Ceville – PC Review

Experts might claim that the point and click adventure genre is dead (or dieing), but I still believe that out there we still have quality developers creating quality games for the more old school players to enjoy. Such a case is Ceville, the latest point and click adventure game released by Kalypso Media, a title which gets back to the basics and provides us with tons of fun.

The game’s story is simple and funny: the mean, cruel cold blooded tyrant Ceville, the ruler of the otherwise peaceful kingdom of Faeryanis is forced by the revolting people to flee the kingdom. Only if he could! Because he’s stuck there, though, facing two horrible alternatives: to see the kingdom of Faeryanis ruled by the kindhearted queen Gwendolyn or the treacherous and even more evil (than Ceville) Basilus. As you can imagine, his only option now is to save the day. And you’re going to help him.

Like most of the recently released adventure games, Ceville is too a 3D title, but one which still manages to let the older players feel like they’re playing a 2D game. So, even though delivering up to date visuals and rising to the standards (in terms of quality of the graphics), developers Realmforge Studios still manage to deliver a somewhat old-school, classic point and click adventure, just perfect after a session of shooting or role playing in other more violent worlds.

Unlike other point and click adventures, Ceville is a rather easy to complete one, lacking the absurd puzzle solutions or the tons of screens you have to travel in order to get from point A to point B. However, “easy” doesn’t mean that you will not be challenged with the quests in the game – you will, but you will enjoy finding the solutions and searching for the needed objects, since everything will make sense. Even more, thanks to a simplified but complete interface, you won’t have to deal with tons of buttons or endless possible combinations (aka blindly clicking objects to see if something works out).

Most of the time you will be traveling around, collecting all sorts of items, combining them and unlocking the next chapter: not an impossible task and not at all boring, because one of the main strengths of the game is its humor. The humor in Ceville is classy and it makes sense, so don’t expect to see any “Scary-movie” kind of stupid jokes including vomit, feces and so on. No, the humor in Ceville is high quality, it has style and proves once more that in order to have a good laugh you need nothing but some great lines. Add to that lots of references to other cult video games, as well as zany objects placed in the strangest places (like a jukebox in the torture chamber or a mouse pet in a prison cell) and you’ll have all the reasons to have a great time with the game.

Actually, I can go as far as saying that, except two major and one minor problem, the game is perfect, flawless and a must play. The biggest problem is quest-related. Sometimes (thankfully not often!) you will simply get stuck because the item you have to interact with is out of sight (or very, very well hidden), driving you mad and considering that there’s a bug or something which stops you from playing. To be honest, throughout the game I had to check a walkthrough for the game to be able to carry on – and I was always stuck because of a poorly placed object. So be warned!

Second, there are some minor camera issues, sometimes the camera having a will of its own and simply making your life as a short legged tyrant even more difficult, but it’s not a deal breaker, in the end. And finally, another problem (for some) might be the relatively short length of Ceville, which I believe can be easily finished in 9-10 hours.

But you will have everything you could ask for in a point and click adventure game: multiple characters to play with, scenes in which you will have to think fast and find the solution until the counter reaches zero (but don’t worry – if it does and you’re not done, you can start over) and generally a great world, a great script and some great, lovable characters.

Visually, Ceville is also enjoyable and, even though it doesn’t deliver some amazing special effects, the shiny, colorful graphics do a great job and fit the picture extremely well. The characters look well, are funny and you will rarely have reasons to criticize any of the visuals. The same can be said about the sound aspect, with a generally good, above-average voice acting and some nice tunes to keep your company.

Conclusion
All in all, Ceville is an awesome game and it’s been quite some time since I had such fun playing a point and click adventure. Its humor is simply amazing, and delightfully tasty and you will play laughing and laugh playing most of the time. The script is great, the characters are enjoyable and you will rarely have reasons to turn your head away from the screen. Realmforge and Kalypso did a great job and I’m sure that if we’re going to receive even more products like Ceville, the point and click adventure genre will get reborn like a Phoenix.

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